Originally Posted by thommy

the price on the pump is only ONE effect what will be negative on longer term.

1. if the price for oil is high it means that there is a high demand - many people want it and as it is sold in US many people will buy dollars. if many people buy dollars the dollar will go up.

2. a strong dollar is bad for the exports. us have already a negative trade balance because nobody buys from US on a strong dollar.

3. as gasoline prices are part of the inflation calculation it means that inflation will increase. to keep the inflation low the national bank have to increase the interest rate.

4. a high interest rate will hit the companies because they have to pay more for lending money and that will decrease their profit.

5. if profit goes down the stocks will fall. and as the majority of americans have their pension in stocks their pension will fall because they do not profit from higher interest they get hit from it.

the result of all that you will not see right away - it is a longterm effect what needs also a long long time to be fixed once it is notable.